Prelims Factoids
AYUSH 64 & Kabasura Kudineer

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about AYUSH 64 and Sidha drug Kabasura Kudineer)
What's the NEWS

• In a concerted response to the second surge of COVID-19 infection in the country, Ministry of Ayush is launching a massive nationwide campaign to distribute its proven poly herbal Ayurvadic drugs AYUSH 64 and Sidha drug Kabasura Kudineer for the benefit of the vast majority of out of hospital COVID patients.
• The efficacy of these drugs has been proved through robust multi-centre clinical trials.
• The main collaborator in the campaign is Sewa Bharati.
• Many clinical and observational studies have been undertaken to understand the role of AYUSH interventions in mitigation and management of COVID 19 whereas various studies were carried out on AYUSH-64, an Ayurvedic formulation developed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS)and Kabasura Kudineer, a classical Siddha formulation.

AYUSH-64 and Kabasura Kudineer

• The Ministry of Ayush-Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) collaboration has recently completed a robust multi-centre clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AYUSH 64 in the management of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients.
• Kabasura Kudineer, a Siddha medicine was also subjected to clinical trials for studying the efficacy in Covid-19 patients by Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS) under Ministry of Ayush and is also found useful in the treatment of mild to moderate covid-19 infection.
• YUSH-64 is recommended in National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga which is vetted by National Task Force on COVID Management of ICMR and Guidelines for Ayurveda Practitioners for COVID-19 Patients in Home Isolation.
• Kabasura Kudineer is included in Guidelines for Siddha Practitioners for COVID 19, Ministry of Ayush Govt. of India.

Seva Bharati

• It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working among the economically weaker sections of Indian society, including tribal and indigenous communities.
•  It also works among urban slum dwellers and resettlement colonies by introducing welfare and social service programs, such as free medical assistance, free education, and vocational training.

The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS)

• It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), Government of India.
• It is an apex body in India for the formulation, coordination, development and promotion of research on scientific lines in Ayurveda and Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

• It was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and development organisation in India .
• It is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• The research and development activities of CSIR include aerospace engineering, structural engineering, ocean sciences, life sciences, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environmental science.

National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga

• The "National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for the management of Covid-19" released by the Ministry of AYUSH on 6th October 2020 is a milestone in the rapidly evolving scenario of Covid-19 responses in the country.
• In India, experience from Covid-19 response activities as reported from different parts of the country have shown that Ayurveda and Yoga can play a pivotal role to augment the standard preventive measures for Covid-19.
• Expert committees from the concerned National Institutes and Central Councils for Research Centres along with a few other noted research institutions have collaborated and developed a protocol for the management of Covid-19.

The Protocol is based on the following three considerations:

1. Knowledge from Ayurveda and Yoga classics and experience from clinical practices.
2. Empirical evidences and Biological plausibility.
3. Emerging trends of ongoing clinical studies related to Covid-19.

• This is the Version 1.0 of the Ayush Protocol for Management of Covid-19, and covers Ayurveda and Yoga. The subsequent versions will incorporate the other Ayush systems.
• The present protocol provides clear guidance to Ayush practitioners of the said two disciplines on how to approach the treatment of Covid-19 in patients in different conditions of COVID.

Defence
EX-DEFENCE DOCTORS OPD ON E-SANJEEVANI

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about e-Sanjeevani OPD)
What's the NEWS

• Defence Secretary ,Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) addressed the veterans who have come forward to answer the call of the Nation.
• They will now be available for "Online Consultation Service by Ex-Defence doctors on e-Sanjeevani OPD" for all citizens of India.

e-Sanjeevani OPD

• It is a Govt of India flagship telemedicine platform developed by the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Mohali under the aegis of MoHFW, Govt of India and is functioning extremely well. It provides free consultations to any Indian citizen.
• However, with covid cases surging, the demand for doctors is up while the supply has reduced due to doctors being pulled out for covid ward duties. This is where the defence Veterans are stepping in to help.
• The Medical Branch of HQ Integrated Defence Staff is providing telemedicine service for the serving and retired defence personnel and has coordinated with MoHFW and NIC to roll out this Ex-Defence OPD for civilian patients.
• The Dy Chief IDS Medical has urged all retired fraternity of retired AFMS doctors to join this platform and provide valuable consultation to the citizens of India in this time of crisis when the country is going through the difficult time.
• There has been a good response from the retired defence doctors and more are expected to join soon. Subsequently, a separate Nationwide Ex Defence Doctors OPD is envisaged.
• Their vast experience and expertise will help the larger clientele to obtain consultation from their homes and tide over the crisis.

Prelims Factoids
ACT Grants, Swasth Alliance and Feeding India to donate 50,000 oxygen concentrators nationally

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about ACT Grants + About Swasth Alliance + About Feeding India)
What's the NEWS

• ACT Grants (a not-for-profit movement created by the VC and start-up community in India), Swasth Alliance (a not-for-profit alliance of over 150+ healthcare organisations) and Feeding India (a not-for-profit run by Zomato) are working towards the goal of sourcing and distributing 50,000 oxygen concentrators.
• These oxygen concentrators will be donated across India free of cost, largely to various public health institutions and NGOs working for public health.
• Delhivery (logistics partner), Amazon (Logistics partner), Temasek Foundation (Sourcing and Funding partner), Paytm (Sourcing partner) and several others from the ecosystem are supporting this effort.
• MyGov is supporting the initiative by ensuring proper coordination with various stakeholders involved, in particular the District Collectors for most optimal utilization of the oxygen concentrators.

About ACT Grants

• ACT Grants, a coalition of Indian startup founders and VC firms first came together in March 2020 to battle the pandemic
• United in the belief that we can harness entrepreneurial energy to solve societal problems, ACT Grants raised an initial $13 million (Rs 100 crore) fund last year to provide grants to tech-driven companies creating solutions that could have an immediate impact, at scale.
• To date, ACT Grants has funded 55 innovative startups fighting COVID-19 across 27 states, touching the lives of over 49 million people.
• In light of the second Covid wave, ACT is focused on tackling immediate shortage of oxygen supply on a war footing.
• Their goal is to support deployment of oxygen solutions, including concentrators and oxygen plants to hospitals across India and also look at bolstering medical manpower, homecare and help scale India's vaccination efforts.

About Swasth Alliance

• Swasth is an alliance of over 150+ healthcare organisations in the country, including hospitals, rural health NGOs, insurers, health tech, med-tech, and others.
• The vision of the alliance is to help leverage digital health technologies to drive healthcare inclusion and outcomes, with a particular focus on enabling comprehensive, integrated care models.
• To this end, over the last 6 months, Swasth developed key public digital infrastructure for the health system as well as deployed oxygen concentrators at public and non-profit health centres in some of India's remotest districts.

About Feeding India:

• Feeding India, is a not-for-profit organization by Zomato, which aims to reduce the problem of hunger within underserved communities in India.
• It has a presence across 185+ cities in India and so far, it has served over 120 million meals to those without food security.
• Feeding India became a part of Zomato in January 2019, and are working together to eradicate hunger and shape the future of food. It continues to be an independently run, non-commercial, volunteer led, not-for-profit organization.

About MyGov

• MyGov is Government of India's citizen engagement and crowdsourcing platform, launched in 2014, with an objective to promote active citizen participation in governance and policymaking.
• Through its innovative portal, App and presence on all social media platforms, MyGov enables participative governance by disseminating authentic information and crowdsourcing ideas and suggestions from citizens.
• Its dedicated COVID19 portal https://www.mygov.in/covid-19 has become the single source of truth for all COVID related information.
• Its Self4Society portal - https://self4society.mygov.in/ enables corporations and citizens to volunteer and donate for social causes.

Science & Technology
India-UK virtual summit strengthens STI cooperation

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the agreements + about GATI project + Athena SWAN + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed on a common vision of a new and transformational Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the UK and India, and adopted an ambitious India-UK Roadmap to 2030 to steer cooperation for the next 10 years.

They welcomed the

• signing of the new UK-India MoU on Telecommunications/ICT and the Joint Declaration of Intent on Digital and Technology
• establishment of new high-level dialogues on tech
• new joint rapid research investment into Covid19
• new partnership to support zoonotic research
• new investment to advance understanding of weather and climate science, and
• the continuation of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).
• They agreed to expand and enhance the existing UK-India vaccines partnership

• Enhance cooperation between India and the UK on strengthening the role of women in STEMM at schools, universities, and research institutions and creating an enabling environment for equal participation of women in STEM disciplines through collaboration on new initiatives like Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project.
• Develop collaborations between Industry, Academia and the Government to foster innovation among school students by focusing on teacher training, mentoring and sharing of global best practices through initiatives like the India Innovation Competency Enhancement Program (IICEP).

Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project.

• The GATI model draws inspiration from the Athena SWAN Gender Equality Charter and accreditation framework operated by Advance HE, UK, since 2005.
• A growing number of universities, science departments and research institutes in UK have voluntarily joined the charter and been recognized for their accomplishments.
• Recognizing the framework's evidence-based approach to analysis, action and demonstrable impact, several countries have been inspired to join the Athena SWAN collaborative international network and launch similar initiatives.
• In this direction, project GATI was one of the three initiatives of DST announced on 28 February 2020, the National Science Day, by the Hon'ble President of India at a celebratory programme dedicated to Women in Science

More about GATI

• Project GATI aims to nudge institutions of higher education and research towards supporting diversity, inclusion and the full spectrum of demographic talent for their own success and progression.
• In particular, it aspires to create an enabling environment for equal participation of women in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics disciplines (STEMM) at all levels, addressing deep-rooted problems.
• It envisages a fresh perspective on not just measures for increasing retention and recruitment but the progression of women throughout their professional journey.
• Project GATI pilots a sustainable self-assessment and accreditation model.

Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) project.

• The DST is incorporating a system of grading institutes depending on the enrolment of women and the advancement of the careers of women faculty and scientists.
• It will be called GATI (Gender Advancement through Transforming Institutions).

Signatories commit to addressing various issues such as -

• Unequal gender representation;
• Tackling the gender pay gap;
• Removing the obstacles faced by women in career development and progression;
• Discriminatory treatment often experienced by trans people;
• Gender balance of committees and zero tolerance for bullying and sexual harassment.

Prelims Factoids
National Financial Reporting Authority

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the role of NFRA)
What's the NEWS

• The National Financial Reporting Authority is a regulatory body set up under Section 132 of the Companies Act to oversee compliance with Accounting and Auditing Standards by companies that can be described as Public Interest Entities (PIEs).
• This group includes all listed companies, and large unlisted companies.
• To discharge this mandate, NFRA is in the process of creating a verified and accurate database of companies and auditors that come under the regulatory ambit of NFRA.
• Establishment of this data base involves critical steps like identification and verification of the primary data source, and reconciliation of data (such as Company Identification Number (CIN) which is dynamic) from different sources.
• In this regard the NFRA has been engaging with the Corporate Data Management (CDM) division of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and three recognised stock exchanges in India.
• A provisional data base of companies and their auditors as of 31st March 2019 has been compiled by the NFRA.
• This includes approx. 6,500 companies, comprising listed companies (around 5,300), unlisted companies (around 1,000), and Insurance and Banking Companies.
• The auditor details for many of these companies have been compiled; in the remaining cases, this exercise is in progress.
• To achieve the objectives for which NFRA has been established, and to promote transparency in its working, this provisional data as of 31st March 2019 has been published on the website of the NFRA

Prelims Factoids
The bipartisan "Endless Frontier" bill
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about bipartisan "Endless Frontier" bill )
What's the NEWS

• A U.S. legislative proposal to allocate about $110 billion for basic and advanced technology research and science in the face of rising competitive pressure from China will be debated by the Senate Commerce Committee on May 12

Bipartisan "Endless Frontier" bill

• The bipartisan "Endless Frontier" bill would authorise most of the money, $100 billion, over five years to invest in basic and advanced research, commercialisation, and education and training programs in key technology areas, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, advanced communications, biotechnology and advanced energy.
• The bill had been expected to be considered on April 28, but was delayed after more than 230 amendments were filed for consideration.
• Senate Democrats and Republicans are moving closer to reaching agreement and there has been very encouraging progress toward a deal.

Prelims Factoids
Karen National Liberation Army
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Karen National Liberation Army - location)
What's the NEWS

• Guerrilla soldiers from Myanmar's Karen ethnic minority burned down a government military outpost after capturing it
• The position is approximately 15km (nine miles) from a larger camp that the Karen National Liberation Army stormed and burned 10 days earlier.

Karen National Liberation Army

• The KNLA is the armed wing of the Karen National Union, the main political organisation representing the Karen minority, whose homeland is in eastern Myanmar.
• The Karen and the Kachin in northern Myanmar are the two major ethnic armed organisations that have allied themselves with the movement against the junta that took power in Myanmar after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
• There is now a daily fighting between the government and the military forces of the Karen and the Kachin.
• Fighting between the guerrillas and the Myanmar army has been increasing since last year but escalated after the military's seizure of power.
• The Karen National Union has been fighting for greater autonomy for the region for decades.
• It has denounced the February coup and given shelter to opposition supporters evading arrest.
• As well as confronting the army on the battlefield, the KNLA has reportedly been training hundreds of young activists from the cities in the rudiments of guerrilla warfare.
• The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said last week that 40,000 people have been newly displaced in Karen territory by intensified fighting between the government and the KNLA, and by "indiscriminate attacks" by Myanmar's army on civilian areas.

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